Bearwood Hub Newsletter
What's on over Feb, March & half term!
Weekly Activities
Here’s where you can find Bearwood Community Hub activities throughout the week!
Bearwood CoWork - 28a Abbey Road, B67 5RD, Mon - Fri
Grief Kind Space - 10am - 12 noon Mondays, Dorothy Parkes Centre
Stay & Play - 10 - 11:30am Mondays, Bear Bookshop
Community Wellbeing Service - Tues - Fri, by appointment upstairs at Bearwood CoWork
ESOL - 12-2pm, Tues & Wed, enrolment required
Urban Room Smethwick - Tuesdays 10am - 5pm, Fridays 10am - 3pm at Smethwick Library
Wednesday Warm Welcome - Wed 11:30am - 5pm at Bearwood Baptist Church Hall
Afterschool Play - Wednesdays 3-5pm at Bearwood Baptist Church Hall
February - March 2025
Smethwick Puppetry Festival RETURNS 15th - 23rd February
Back for a second stellar year, you can catch puppet shows, workshops, exhibitions and more across 10 venues around Smethwick! Everything is Pay what you can, which means you choose the price of your ticket based on your budget. Prepare to be amazed and immersed in wonder!
Create your own Toy Puppet Theatre Workshop ✂️ 🖍️ 🎨 🎭
Bearwood Baptist Church Hall, Tuesday 18th February, 11am - 1pm
Drop in to Bearwood Baptist Church with the kids this Tuesday to design and build your own cardboard toy puppet sized theatre!
Inspired by the popular Victorian home entertainment, we'll choose a story to adapt to our small stage. We'll use collage, drawing and painting to design and decorate a proscenium, backdrops, props and characters and conclude with an opportunity for a 'show & tell'!
Child Friendly Cities x Urban Room Smethwick
Smethwick Library, 1:30 - 3pm & 3:30 - 5pm on 25th Feb & 4th Mar
Exciting things happening at Urban Room Smethwick for your little ones over the next few weeks. A special series of play activities around the theme of the Child Friendly City, to capture children’s imagination and aspirations about our public spaces, neighbourhoods and homes.
Sessions are aimed at pre-schoolers, nursery and primary school children, with daytime sessions for little ones and after school sessions for primary age children.
Bring the little ones in your care along to take part in fun activities that could inform planning policy and strategies for future placemaking!
Need to escape the house this half-term? Try Bearwood CoWork!
Need to escape the house this half-term to get a few bits done whilst the kids are off school? Take advantage of our child-free workspace and find the focus you need at Bearwood Co-Work!
Perks:
High speed WiFi capable of handling plenty of devices and multiple meetings
Phone / video calls are welcome - just make sure you bring a pair of headphones
ALL your teas & coffees are included with your booking
Half or full-day options so you only need to pay for what you use!
Evening & weekend access by arrangement
Friendly company and cosy space (our heating is on so yours doesn’t have to be!)
PLUS you’re only a few steps away from the beautifully refurbished Bearwood Yoga / DH Training Club studio:
Why not try a lunchtime training session with Dean or relax afterwork with an evening yoga class with Matty! (Please book directly with Bearwood Yoga or DH Training Club).
On top of ALL of that, when you use Bearwood CoWork you are also supporting Bearwood Community Hub to fund other projects like our Community Wellbeing Service & Wednesday Warm Welcome, so you can feel good about it too!
Window Wanderland 19th - 22nd Feb
Also back for another year is the much-loved Window Wanderland! The theme this year is Windows of Light. Decorate your window, light it up in the evenings between 19th and 23rd February, and follow the trail round the 'wood!
Bearwood Window Wanderland is a community event for all to enjoy; whether it’s creating a window in your home, attending a workshop or walking the window trail, this is a celebration of Bearwood and our community.
How to join in
Create a window
Register your window and add your home to the map by emailing Marian at bearwoodevents@gmail.com
Leave the lights on and walk the trail!
FREE Creative Workshop for Parents of babies & young children
Stay & Play at Bear Bookshop, Monday 3rd March, 10 - 11:30am
Milk and Blankets is a free, hands-on art project taking place across Birmingham. It explores the act of feeding babies and children, the emotions, techniques, preconceptions and struggles associated with it and the unsolicited advice that can be received.
Parents in Bearwood are invited to explore comfort and nutrition in the humble mug of tea with artist Amelia Hawk. We will be making infused milks and teas for big and small hands, exploring our mental and physical needs from the warmth of a hot drink. Flavour combinations will touch upon lactation, nutrition and mood. The workshop will be loose and free-flowing, with plenty of space for play. All materials provided.
This workshop will be happening alongside our usual Monday Stay & Play at Bear Bookshop, 10 - 11:30am! Feel free to drop-in!
Milk and Blankets is funded by Birmingham City Council, Arts Council England & the University of Central Lancashire.
In and Around Bearwood
Bearwood Writers’ Group
Back for 2025, Jordan Garvey will be running the monthly writers’ group from Bearwood CoWork! Here are the next dates for your diaries, be sure to keep an eye out on eventbrite to book!
Thursday 20th Mar - 7-9pm
Decorate your own Easter Egg for Warley Woods Easter Egg Trail Art Competition!
Show off your artistic skills for a chance to have your Easter Egg design displayed at Warley Woods Easter Egg Roll on the 21st April 2025!
Make sure you take your designs to the shop at the Pavillion by Monday 24th March!
Download the template below or come and make your own at Afterschool Play (3 - 4:45pm at Bearwood Baptist Church Hall) between Wednesday 26th Feb - Wednesday 19th Mar!
FREE, fun SEND play at Ideal4All this Half Term!
Anyone with SEND aged 5 - 16 years and their families are welcome to join Ideal4All this week for some ‘hands’ on gardening, food growing and cooking at their Community Garden spaces!